Pea Low

Chambered Cairn

Pea Low (Chambered Cairn) on The Modern Antiquarian, the UK & Ireland's most popular megalithic community website. 15 images, 2 fieldnotes, plus information on many more ancient sites nearby and across the UK & Ireland.

Images (click to view fullsize)

Fieldnotes

[visited 4/12/16] My what a beast this is. Magic.gov.uk has this as an oversized bowl barrow akin to the much smaller mounds on the hills to the north and west, I disagree entirely. This is surely one of the neolithic round cairns that dot the landscape of the southern white peak.

Its lovely here on a cold sunny winters day with low light spreading the shadows. The two pits are clear as are the original quarry pits in the surrounding fields. Its placement in the landscape is suggestive of a different purpose to the cairns on the steep hills nearby, this one much closer to the valleys and the water sources, not so much a statement to the gods but a usable monument for the everyday folk.

Access is ok. About 15-20 minutes walk from Alstonfield over muddy fields.

Pea Low is one of the Peaks best preserved barrows, and it is enormous around 45mx40m and still over 3m high.
It is thought it may contain chambers but none have been found, Bateman and Carrington half heartedly excavated here several times in the 1840's. The outcome of their work showed that the barrow had been re-used much later for Roman burials.

The views from the barrow are excellent through 360'.

Theres a small car park in Alstonefield, you can see Pea Low on a nearby hill only a short walk away.